Tramps are now made useful by being turned into WiFi hotspots

TRAMPS. They’ve got an awful life. When the weather’s bad, they feel it most. The die in doorways and have septic extremities. And to think, they’ve got the paucity to actually ask you for money while you’re throwing a sandwich in the bin because it was a ‘bit dry’.

Either way, vagrants are being put to good use as a New York ad agency has decided to turn them into walking WiFi aerials.

Bartle, Bogle and Hegarty (BBH) handed out free MiFi gadgets to the panhandlers along with t-shirts sporting their names alongside the words “I’m a 4G hotspot”. The hobos will be bothering people with their excellent connective properties at hipsterfest, SXSW.

In fairness, it’ll be incredibly difficult to tell the homeless apart from the hipsters. They’re all scraggy beards, plaid shirts and bad teeth, right?

“These are homeless individuals. They’re carrying MiFi devices. Introduce yourself, then log on to their 4G network via your phone or tablet for a quick, high-quality connection,” the company said on its website. “This year in Austin, as you wander between locations murmuring to your coworker about how your connection sucks… you’ll notice strategically positioned individuals wearing ‘Homeless Hotspot’ T-shirts.”

The vagabonds are instructed to stand in a certain area and let “customers” come to them. It’s suggested that users pay their human service providers $2 per 15 minutes, although any donation is accepted. Users must be within 30 feet of the human wifi server to get the service.